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“Are you decent?” he asks, pretending to cover his eyes but peeking through the gaps in his fingers. Without waiting for me to respond, he walks right in, grinning as he looks me over.
I’m in a tank top and underwear under the covers, but the blankets are barely covering me at this point, giving him a pretty good view. And in true Rory fashion, he takes advantage of it, practically devouring me with his gaze.
“You know there’s this thing people do when they want to come into someone else’s room. Especially when the door’s fucking closed and it’s an ungodly hour of the morning,” I mutter, fighting the urge to drag a pillow over my face.
Jesus. How is he like this? Rory went drink for drink with me last night, but he seems fine, his usual cheerful self.
He taps a finger against his lips and then shrugs. “Hmm, this thing people do. Can’t think of what that might be,” he says, still grinning.
“You’ve gotten two tats in a row, and that’s not even a little bit fair.”
“Hey, if you want to give me two tits, I’m not going to complain.”
He punctuates that sentence by looking right at my chest. My nipples are pretty visible through the thin material of my shirt, and I can see the heat flaring in his green eyes.
It matches the heat that flares in me, just from the way he’s looking at me, and I roll my eyes at the banter anyway, trying to ignore the way he’s making me feel.
“What do you want?” I groan. “It’s too early for this.”
“It’s after ten,” he points out. “I wanted to know if you wanted to come see Piper with me today. She’s been asking about you.”
I blink. “Oh.”
That’s the last thing I expected him to say. Both things, actually. His time with his daughter seems like this sacred thing from the way he talks about it, and I had no idea I made that big of an impression on Piper the one time she met me. But I guess kids latch onto things and people pretty easily.
I have no idea what to do with this either way. I should say no, really. There’s no point to me going. Rory doesn’t talk shop around his daughter or Jen, so there’s nothing I can learn about Black Rose business by being there. That’s supposed to be the goal of me spending time around the guys. Getting information.
“Yeah, okay,” I find myself saying anyway. I’m not even sure why. A minute ago, all I wanted was to sleep the day away, but there’s something about the thought of going with him that eases the ache in my heart a little, the sadness of missing my own dad. I can’t really say no to that.
“Awesome,” he says, smiling at me. It’s not even the flirty, teasing smile he usually has on either. He looks genuinely pleased. “Half an hour?”
“Sure. I need to get dressed and stuff.”
He stands there for a second, like he has no intention of leaving while I get changed, and I roll my eyes again and throw a pillow at him. It hits him square in the face, and he laughs before retreating, closing the door on his way out.
I quickly brush my teeth and throw on some clothes, going for comfort more than seduction, since we’ll be hanging out with a little kid. I brush my hair and shake off the last of my hangover before heading downstairs to meet Rory.
Levi and Sloan are nowhere to be seen, and Rory smiles as we head to the car.
Just like last time, Piper practically launches herself at him as soon as we get inside the house, and he laughs and scoops her up, twirling her around and lifting her over his head while she squeals with delight.
Jen just smiles as she watches the two of them, and there’s so much fondness on her face that it makes my chest ache a little.
“I see Rory conned you into coming over here again,” she says to me.
“Hey, ‘conned’ makes it sound like there was lying involved,” Rory retorts before I can respond. He puts Piper down and she comes over to me, smiling shyly. “She knows what she’s getting herself into.”
“Hi,” Piper says, waving and then putting half her hand in her mouth.
“Hey,” I reply, waving back. “What do you want to do today?”
“Zoo!” she answers, bouncing up and down. “Wanna see pengins.”
“Penguins,” Rory and Jen say at the same time.
“Jinx,” Jen adds. “You owe me a coke.”
“I’m taking the kid out so you can go get your hair done,” Rory shoots back. “I think that’s good enough.”
